Social Selling: A Primer

More and more, social selling is becoming increasingly important.  For one thing, your prospects are likely to be using the 3 main social media platforms(Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) and having a presence on these sites gives you the opportunity to engage with them.  For another, your competitors are most likely already using social selling.  Finally, consumers today expect that anyone that they do business with has active social media accounts that they can follow.

If you’ve already opened up a Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account, you’re on the right path.  If you haven’t, we recommend that you do so.  Once you have your accounts open, one of your primary focuses is going to be on building connections.  Send a friendly email to contacts in your CRM database and ask them to “Like” your Facebook page or to follow you on Twitter.  Update your website with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter buttons so that prospects can easily find and follow you on social media.

Once your presence has been established, focus on offering engaging and relevant content to your followers. For instance, you might want to let them know that interest rates are dropping or share with them bad business practices that they may encounter if they work with an unscrupulous broker.  When creating your content, remember the 80/20 rule—80% of your content should be related to your prospects’ interests and only 20% should be sales-oriented in nature.

Social selling—as with any marketing initiative—takes time to see results. But if you consistently make an effort in this regard, you will not only grow your prospects but you’ll also increase your sales opportunities.

Celebrating 15 years in Business!

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Direct Mail, Mortgage Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website / Graphic Design. Titan List has been around since 1998, and has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company.

5 Tools to Help You Manage Your Social Media

With so many social media platforms available, it can be difficult to manage them all. Fortunately, there are a number of tools designed to streamline the task of staying on top of social media. Here are some suggestions for tools that will simplify your life:

HootSuite – This is the leading social media dashboard. Users can log in to HootSuite and manage all of their social media accounts at once. For instance, you can schedule Tweets on Twitter, post Facebook updates, modify content on multiple WordPress sites at once, and connect with clients via LinkedIn. At no cost, you can manage up to 5 social profiles making this a no-brainer for the busy professional.

Visually’s Google Analytics Report – While Google Analytics is helpful, some find that it can be difficult to easily locate the information that they need. Fortunately, there’s Visual.ly’s HYPERLINK “http://visual.ly/” HYPERLINK “http://visual.ly/”Google Analytics Report. This offers complex data in a helpful infographic, summing up the key metrics that are tracked with Google Analytics. The free report is available online or you can arrange to have it mailed to you weekly.

SocialBro – Designed specifically for managing your Twitter account, Social Bro is a great tool for overseeing your Twitter relationships. Use it to find out the best time to tweet your followers, get statistics on your Twitter community, discover who your most influential followers are, and segment your market. Try it free for 15 days. After that, pricing starts at $13.95 a month.Edgerank Checker

Pro – Facebook uses an algorithm to determine which news appears in people’s news feeds.
Unfortunately, this means that your posts may not get the attention of your target audience. Enter EdgeRank HYPERLINK “http://edgerankchecker.com/” Checker Pro. It provides custom-tailored recommendations that will help you to increase engagement with your Facebook fans. Also, you can analyze a post with it to determine why it performed the way it did—for example, did you send your post at the wrong time or was the content not engaging to your fan base? Plans begin at $15/month with half off your first month.

Crowdbooster – This is designed for users whose primary engagement with their followers is via Facebook and Twitter. Crowdbooster offers social media metrics and helps you to improve your online strategy. For instance, you can use it to determine your most effective tweets or posts, improve the content of your messages with its suggestions, schedule your social media engagements, and get valuable insights about your audience. You can try it free for 30 days and after that, pricing begins at $9 a month.

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Direct Mail, Mortgage Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website / Graphic Design. Titan List has been around since 1998, and has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company

LinkedIn: A Valuable Resource for Small Businesses

The past decade has seen the explosion of social media, as more and more individuals are turning to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But the benefits of social media aren’t just for individuals. Social media—and in particular, LinkedIn—offers many advantages to those trying to grow their businesses. Consider the following statistic: 77% of B2B companies in a recent survey stated that they had acquired a customer through the LinkedIn website. LinkedIn is also responsible for 64% of all visits from social media channels to corporate websites; compare that to Facebook which only accounts for 17% of such visits.

To take advantage of LinkedIn for lead generation and client acquisition, experts recommend the following:

Create a Comprehensive Profile. Sell yourself by creating an engaging profile. It should be detailed; make sure you fill out all sections. LinkedIn states that users who have a complete Products and Services section tend to have twice as many followers. So, be thorough.
Join Groups. Don’t be a LinkedIn lurker. Instead, join groups that are applicable to your industry. The more groups that you join, the more potential networking opportunities you’ll be awarded. To increase the likelihood of acquiring more LinkedIn followers, strive to contribute regularly to the groups that you join.

Connect. Offer links to your website and other social media accounts. You want to provide multiple avenues for your followers to keep up-to-date with what you’re doing.
Use Engaging Content. The more engaging people find your content, the more likely they will (1) revisit your social media accounts and (2) refer other people to them. So, use LinkedIn to offer links to your blog posts or online newsletters. It’s a good idea to use the 80/20 rule when developing the content—create content that is 80% for the benefit of the user (not sales-oriented) and 20% that touts your products and services.

By providing rich content, making connections, and joining groups, you’ll increase the likelihood that LinkedIn will become a valuable resource for maximizing your business opportunities. And since it’s free to use, it’s a great avenue for selling yourself without incurring any expenses.

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Direct Mail, Mortgage Marketing, Internet Marketing / Graphic Design. Titan List has been around since 1998, and has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company.

3 Cost-Effective Mortgage Marketing Tactics

We all know that mortgage marketing can be a major expense. Whether you just started your business, or you have been around for years, you can’t afford to spend marketing dollars unless you know those dollars are going to work. While there are numerous marketing strategies to employ, consider one of these three marketing techniques that are effective and won’t break the bank.

Giveaways by Direct Mail:
Giveaways are nice because you don’t have to spend money multiple times. Instead, you invest in one nice prize and that’s it. Or you could even talk to another business about donating a prize in exchange for advertising or services. Sending past clients a mortgage postcard with some soft of giveaway prize for entering can stir up some new business or referral business.

There are two ways to conduct a giveaway. You can ask your customers to actually use your services- refinance your loan before the end of the year to win a holiday gift card (for example). Or you can ask them to promote you by retweeting you or sharing your information on Facebook. Both ways are very effective, so determine what you want to achieve before getting started.

Networking Matters
Networking doesn’t have to cost you anything. You can network through free, online sources such as Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media. These outlets require regular updates and constant interaction with your clients. Or you can attend in-person, networking events pertaining to your business. Some cities offer groups that are free to join, while others may require a small yearly membership fee. Either way, you get to interact, face-to-face, with potential clients or other professionals that can provide referrals.

By building up your connections, you are building your reputation. When people need your services, they will remember you. Keep in mind no matter the networking you choose to partake in, every person you meet is a potential new customer.

Websites
Your website is your chance to offer detailed information about yourself and your industry. For example, you can include your contact information, list of services and bios about your employees, but also information about how to refinance or find a broker. Your website allows you to become a source of information for your prospective clients. You will be portrayed as someone who knows what they are talking about and that helps build up the customer’s confidence in you.

These three techniques work. Because they cost so little (or nothing at all), there is no reason why you shouldn’t be using them. Start incorporating them into your marketing plans and see how quickly you benefit.

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Direct Mail, Mortgage Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website / Graphic Design. Titan List has been around since 1998, and has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company.